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Colin McAlpin (9 April 1870 – 13 May 1942) was an English composer of songs, operas and ballet music, an organist and a writer of critical essays on music.

Colin McAlpin in 1903[1]
Colin McAlpin in 1903[1]

Life


The cast of Colin McAlpin's opera Robin Hood, at Wellingborough School, 1892. The man in black standing on the right resembles McAlpin.
The cast of Colin McAlpin's opera Robin Hood, at Wellingborough School, 1892. The man in black standing on the right resembles McAlpin.

Colin McAlpin was born in 1870, at 15 Gallowtree Gate, Leicester, England. He was the fourth child of a clothier John William McAlpin, and his German wife Marie Louise (née Gerdes). His elder siblings were Kenneth, Donal and Janet, and his younger brothers Alan and John.[2]

McAlpin published his first composition when he was only 15 and at Wellingborough School: a song called The Cuckoo published in the Midland Musical Journal. At the age of 16 he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Music to study harmony with Francis William Davenport and organ playing with Charles Steggall, and after three years he acquired silver medals in both areas of study. In 1892 Robin Hood, his first dramatic work, was performed at Wellingborough School and that year he was appointed organist and choirmaster at Kensington Presbyterian Church.

In 1897, King Arthur, an opera in three acts, commissioned by impresario Herbert Marshall, was performed by the Leicester Philharmonic Society under H. S. Ellis. In that year three of McAlpin's Ten Songs were performed in one of Granville Bantock's concerts for British composers. The Ten Songs were published by Cary & Son, the first of dozens of his pieces to be published by this company. In his thirtieth year McAlpin was appointed organist and choirmaster of Trinity Presbyterian Church Clapham, where his sacred cantata The Prince of Peace had its first performance. He was in 1920 appointed organist and choirmaster of Ealing Presbyterian Church, and in that year his cantata Excalibur was performed in London.

In 1903 King Arthur was performed at the Royalty Theatre, London. In the same year his opera in four acts, The Cross and the Crescent, first produced at Covent Garden by the Moody-Manners company, won him the Manners Prize of £250 for the best opera by a British composer,[3] and it was performed subsequently in Glasgow and Edinburgh. A one-act opera The Vow staged at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham won him the same prize twelve years later.

His writings included critical essays published in journals The Musical Times and The Musical Quarterly, and his book Hermaia: a Study in Comparative Esthetics, which his biographer David J. Fisher describes as "a remarkable study of comparative aesthetics", has been recognised as culturally important.

In 1907 McAlpin had his portrait painted by Richard Jack RA, and a bronze bust was sculpted by W. B. Fagan FRBS.

He married an artist Susette Peach (1871-1950) in 1899, and they had one son Roderic McAlpin (1907-1965).

Colin McAlpin died at Dorking, Surrey, on 13 May 1942.[4]


Compositions



Operas


The cover of the vocal score of McAlpin's opera King Arthur, signed by the composer
The cover of the vocal score of McAlpin's opera King Arthur, signed by the composer

Cantatas



Songs


The cover of McAlpin's Ten Songs.[12]
The cover of McAlpin's Ten Songs.[12]

Choral Songs



Piano



Organ



Orchestral



Writings



Books



Articles



Bibliography



Notes


  1. Photograph from The Graphic, 3 October 1903
  2. 1871 & 1881 England and Wales Censuses
  3. Hubbard and Krehbiel p.348
  4. "Major events in the life of Colin McAlpin", by David J. Fisher, in the concert programme for a tribute performance of The Prince of Peace on 11 April 1987 at St Mary's Church, Knighton, Leicester
  5. Howey & Reimer, p.571
  6. Reviewed in The Era, 22 December 1915
  7. Mentioned in The Era, 22 December 1915
  8. Western Daily Press, 3 May 1915
  9. The Straits Times, 2 February 1909
  10. Arthur Elson: "Modern Composers of Europe"
  11. British Library ref. F.1274.bb.(3.)
  12. By permission of the Edgar Allan Poe Digital Collection, Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
  13. Cambridge Daily News, October 17, 1899
  14. British Library ref. H.1799.i.(56.)
  15. Sung by Jessie MacLachlan at a London banquet given to Col. Hector MacDonald
  16. British Library ref. H.1187.cc.(43.)
  17. British Library ref. H.1187.cc.(41.)
  18. British Library ref. H.1187.cc.(42.)
  19. Edgar Allan Poe Digital Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin.
  20. British Library ref. G.383.d.(6.)
  21. British Library ref. G.424.q.(10.)
  22. British Library ref. H.1799.ww.(28.)
  23. British Library ref. H.1846.y.(40.)
  24. Review by L.H. in The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol.29, No.162 (Sep., 1916). pp. 259-260

References






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